Your Right to Know

State officials yesterday scaled back the number of prisons where electricity use will be curtailed under a power-supply agreement.

Only prisons in Marion, Cleveland and Youngstown dialed down electricity use yesterday as the heat index approached 100 degrees. On Monday and Tuesday, electricity was restricted in 24 prisons as a result of a contract that has generated $1.3 million for the state over three years.

Ricky Seyfang, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said the severe heat caused the agency to review its power policy, prompting a request to limit the multihour power interruptions to just five prisons. They are the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Marion Correctional Institution, Northeast Pre-Release Center in Cleveland, Pickaway Correctional Institution in Orient and Ohio Penitentiary in Youngstown. All have backup generators.

Other prisons will be subject to power curtailments, but they will be limited to one hour, Seyfang said.

“The agency is concerned about the quality-of-life issues for the inmates and staff who are there with them,” she added.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio strongly urged state officials yesterday not to shut off electricity, calling it “dangerous.”

“Times are difficult, and government agencies are looking for revenue anywhere they can find it,” Mike Bricker, ACLU director of communications and public policy, said in a statement. “Cutting the power during a heat wave to make money is very short-sighted. Long term, it is a recipe for trouble.”

Power interruptions are part of a 2010 agreement signed by the state with KOREnergy Ltd., a contractor that works with PJM, the company that oversees electricity transmission in 13 states and the District of Columbia. The state agency has received payments totaling about $1.3 million over the past three years in exchange for agreeing to drastically cut its electric use on two-hour notice. The state is paid quarterly regardless of whether the power is interrupted.

Although most Ohio prison cells and housing units are not air-conditioned, power for lights, fans, televisions and other electrical devices was shut off on two afternoons for three to four hours. Electrified fences and all security systems remained operational. Air conditioning remained on in staff offices, which normally have it, Seyfang said.

Prison officials said inmates are being provided with water and ice, can take showers, and can use a mister outside to cool off. Windows and cell doors (if security is not an issue) are being opened for ventilation. Outdoor duties are being curtailed, and living-area temperatures are being monitored, prison officials say.

Ellen Kitchens, a member of CURE, an advocacy group for inmates and their families, said the power shutdown might cause tension among frustrated inmates who can’t watch TV, go outside or do other activities.

“Tempers will be flaring because they’re so mad about what’s going on,” Kitchens said. She said that showers were not working at London Correctional Institution in Madison County, where her son is incarcerated.